I've been badgered to install it since the beginning of the year, but there is no way I am surrendering that much access to my personal information to a relatively unknown company. While their privacy policy states they'll behave with all the information about you and your contacts that they collect, I'm not quite convinced.

Now we've got a report of the Line app asking for root permission. There is no reason whatsoever that this app should do that, and you should never grant it that privilege - or any app that doesn't specifically need it, which are typically system utilities. Apps that need root to function correctly are firewalls, CPU over/under clockers, application backup tools, etc.

This of course only affects people who have have a rooted device. [Note that this screenshot shows the newer SuperSU is installed, rather than Superuser.]

I attempted to qualify that statement with relatively, as in relative to the Microsoft, Apple, Google, Yahoo!, Skype, et al., with the implication being that, due to their global presence, the former companies must comply with the privacy laws of many countries and are therefore less likely to engage in shady behavior with respect to the handling and securing of the personal information they collect.